Does such a HTPC case exist?

[FuturDreamz]

they could be pinned in place by downward pressure form the optical drive...

Or I can squeeze them in from the side and have the fans keep them in place.

I can find a way of making sure they don't move. I'm just wondering if the close contact is thermally allowable.

 

[Pedroc1999]

I am not an expert but hdds dont make much heat so i think it wont matter

 

[FuturDreamz]

I think I should be fine with green drives, but do they make good raid drives?

 

[Pedroc1999]

What ever you do dont raid with green drives.they are just now good at it.they were made for standalone storage.consider wdblacks as they are good for raid10

 

[Pedroc1999]

Ive heard that rly good ones are the seegate7200.12

 

[FuturDreamz]

If I wait for haswell, I can take out the graphics card, and use a pico PSU.

I need to put up pictures later, but this is what it would look like:

Dimensions: 6.7" deep, 12.5" wide, 2.2" tall (inside dimensions)
1 slim optical drive
1 2.5" ssd
1 3.5" HDD
Mini ITX board
low voltage CPU with Intel HD... 5000?
Phanteks 45mm tall cpu fan/heatsink
160W (200W peak) PicoPSU

it could work.

 

[Pedroc1999]

well i suppose so.what about starting to y the parts asap and then you can afford a bettr cpu when jaswell does come oi

 

[FuturDreamz]

the big white block is the size representation of a Phanteks PH-TC90LS
Hard drives will be upside down to make the cables easier to access
the front 40mm fan is simply to ensure the entire case gets airflow, because the cpu fan will pull air from a large vent directly over top it, then push it out through the right side and the back via the left side.
the bulk of the cables can be stuffed under the optical drive, and the only four cables passing in front of the samll fan are a power cable (which gets splitted) and three sata cables.

This mostly depends on haswell. I could possibly do this with Ivy Bridge, but I don't think Intel HD 4000 is good enough.

 

[Pedroc1999]

Intel hd is a rly good gpu.but the one you plannned on having is still bettter

 

[FuturDreamz]

Intel hd is a rly good gpu.but the one you plannned on having is still bettter

I still haven't committed yet. It depends on when I can actually do this. And that won't be until I'm done college and have a decent Job. And by then Haswell will be out, and it might be awesome. Then I can decide if the box less than half the size will be worth it.

I still have both versions set aside.

 

[Pedroc1999]

All i can say is get stable first! Btw after all tbis how much would it cost you?thibk about setting apart 5 quid i something every 2 weeks.this is always a good idea

 

[FuturDreamz]

I imagine it would cost $1,200-$2,000. All of the components except for the case costs $1,000 for the system with the video card, and the one without I think is only a little bit cheaper.

But the other system won't have a video card, so high-end parts are pointless...

 

[FuturDreamz]

Actually it might not cost that much. I've sort have gotten emotionally attached to the really small case, the one without the graphics card or the RAID 10 drives. Since it doesn't have discrete graphics, there's no point in making this an super expensive high end system. I do intend to use haswell, however this should be a close approximation of what the system will be (assuming the Phanteks heat sink works with haswell's LGA1150 socket):

Slim slot-loading Bluray drive - $150 or so (preferably, but I may settle)
Intel i5 with top of the line graphics - $250
2TB SATA drive - $120
Midrange motherboard - $100
160w (200w peak) picoPSU - $50 (required)
180GB SSD with ~500MB/s read/write - $150
Phanteks PH-TC90LS 45MM tall heatsink and fan - $27 (required)
Samsung 2x4GB DDR3 low profile ram - $35

That's just under $900, minus shipping and case; and I could price around (or settle on cheaper parts) to bring the price down maybe $200 more.
If I go through Ponoko it should cost about $60 for the case, so I should be able to do this entire project under $1000, and maybe even with shipping.
Just checked, and total cost with shipping and taxes for these components will be about $950, including the custom case. I would need to add $50-100 or so for all of the little components needed (cables, switches, screws, standoffs, and front ports), but so far the price isn't so bad. It shouldn't be to hard to budget for this eventually.

 

[Pedroc1999]

do you really need 2tb, if your saving money may aswell get a smaller 500gb hdd and keep adding as you need them... this will spread the cost out more and is better as then instead of having 1 large hdd with the same access speed, ypou can have multiple which can then be used to access diffrent programs and files on diffrent drives more quickly as your not relying opn the speed of only one hdd

 

[FuturDreamz]

I can only fit one 3.5" hard drive into this setup.

Inside dimensions: 6.7" deep, 12.5" wide, 2.2" tall

http://www.sevenforums.com/overcloc...-does-such-htpc-case-exist-7.html#post2205158

 

[Pedroc1999]

Ahh ok. That makes sense. What about 2.5"

 

[FuturDreamz]

They don't come in 2TB capacities, and it will lead to a lot of wasted space. with this setup the entire width of the system is enough to fit the motherboard and a 3.5" drive side by side, with just enough room for a SSD in front of the 3.5" drive. on top of the drives is an air gap, large enough for having a full set of front ports and buttons, with a vent in the rear.

If I go to just 2.5" drives, there will be a big gap between the front and rear drives which cannot really be filled, and I'd need more drives stacked on top, which will encroach on the needed air gap. and I can't make the system not as wide, otherwise there's no room for the optical drive.

 

[tb293009]

get a 750gb wd black

it has 7200rpm and it is in a 2.5" package
use some type of adhesive with thermal tolerance for hdds

 

[FuturDreamz]

I'm sorry I'm taking so long.

I've found a few cases that seem like they would work, but they compromise in just slightly the wrong way.
HIPER - PRODUCTS - HIPERMEDIA - HTPC Chassis - HMC-1K53A (comes with only 200W PSU)
TF5 HTPC Home Theatre PC Case - Karma® T-series (a little deep)
:: GM Corporation Ltd :: PC Case & PowerSupply
Lian Li Industrial Co., Ltd.

 

[FuturDreamz]

I Had a breakthrough with the full sized version: since the height of the case is dictated by the TFX PSU, I can raise the motherboard enough to place drives below it, while still having unobstructed room for the fan and heatsink.

This has a proper video card, and room for 1 SSD and 2 HDDs (screwed on from below)
Dimensions (internal) are: 2.5" tall, 13.3" wide, 8.2" deep

My design is dependent on This PSU, or to be more precise, TFX PSUs with a nonprotruding fan on top.